Oh, No! Not Rambo!!

Doesn't Sylvester Stallone know that I was kidding last month when I said that my life would only be complete if he made another Rambo movie??!!!

Hot off the presses:

Stallone back in combat for fourth 'Rambo'

The franchise that drew "First Blood" is back with a fourth installment. Millennium Films in conjunction with Emmett/Furla Films and Equity Pictures are partnering on a $50 million "Rambo IV." Sylvester Stallone is attached to star. The story centers on former Vietnam vet John Rambo, who is living a reclusive life back home in the U.S. But when a girl goes missing, he is forced to abandon his quiet lifestyle and take justice into his own hands. No director is attached, and the screenplay is in the early stages. (Tatiana Siegel) FULL STORY

Unbelievable.

New Excuse for Missing an Exam: My Dad Won the Powerball

As a graduate student, I think I have heard every undergraduate excuse for missing exams. In addition to the usual reasons for missing exams (illness, death in the family), I've heard some doosies including student last year who missed a major exam because he went to the World Series Champion parade in Boston to honor the Red Sox (his dead grandfather would have wanted him to go).

But "my dad won $340 million?" That's a new one!

"I'm so happy, I could kiss you!"

Chicago White Sox manger Ozzie Guillen, left, gets a kiss from a well-wisher after the White Sox defeated the Houston Astros 1-0 in Game 4 to win the World Series for the first time since 1917, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005, in Houston.

I'm from Chicago. I should be thrilled about the White Sox win. And I am happy for them. I promise. Of course, not quite as happy as the fan in the picture (I wish I had a picture of the moment after this photo was taken)

But when the Cubs go to the World Series, I'm gonna have a week-long party.

Invasion of the Pod People

I have discovered podcasts. Have you? I'm behind the curve on this one for sure. If you are even more behind the times than I am and don't know what a podcast is, it is an itunes video or audio clip available on the web for download or streaming. Much like blogs allow wannabe journalists such as myself to "publish" a daily column, podcasts allow people to broadcast their own radio or television shows.

I am fascinated. Last week, I listened to a guy drive through the North Shore suburbs of Chicago (where I grew up). He just drove around and talked about what he was seeing. I listened to the whole 20 minutes. He talked about a whole lot of nothing, but I was captivated. I couldn't turn the thing off.

Podcasts are a global phenomenon, and have even caught on in China as described by this NY Times piece last Friday.

According to Thomas L. Friedman:

Another favorite is a podcast by two Chinese architecture students in Houston Rockets jerseys (the team of the Chinese N.B.A. star Yao Ming) who lip-sync a Backstreet Boys tune.

I watched this podcast. I was totally fascinated. You can watch the aforementioned podcast here. You can watch a different podcast by the same two students here

If Wayne and Garth were broadcasting today, I'm sure it would be a podcast.

"Shopping is Hopping in Buffalo"

OK. So you might be asking...Why am I blogging about Buffalo, NY of all places?

I lived there for a few years. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.

Don't get me wrong. People who live in Buffalo absolutely love it there. And my brother-in-law, who grew up there, is a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan. People who grew up there often return after college, which says a lot about the place.


But I didn't grow up there. It is where I went "home" to during breaks from school. My parents lived in a suburb of Buffalo while I was in college. So instead of going home at Christmas break to visit my family in wonderful CHICAGO (where I had grown up), I travelled to East Amherst, NY.

My mother would say, "When you come home, we can go shopping!" and I always wanted to say "You couldn't PAY me to go shopping in Buffalo."

So today, when I read about Buffalo in USA Today, I just knew I had to share.

It turns out that now Buffalo wants to pay people to shop there! The Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitor's Bureau is giving people $50 to spend in Buffalo shops and malls...not just anyone, though. They want to pay Canadians to cross the border and shop there--which is ironic since I always felt that the best thing about Buffalo shopping was TORONTO.

The new slogan, designed to entice Canadians to make a run for the border is:

"Shopping is Hopping in Buffalo"

Ken Wants to Win Barbie Back....

...and he is willing to undergo a makeover to do it!

Watching CBS Sunday Morning today, I learned that Barbie and Ken may be getting back together. She dumped him last year because he wasn't exciting enough (or because he wouldn't commit), and started dating new beau Blaine.In a story today in the Sunday Telegraph, Ken spoke through his publicist at Mattel toys and offered this statement:

"My new look will be something very now. My style will reflect my personality and will change with my mood on any given day...Time apart has helped me to realize what's important. Barbie is the love of my life."

Barbie and Ken were together for 43 years, and their breakup two days before Valentine's Day in 2004 came as a shocker to those of us who grew up with Barbie and Ken because they symbolized happily-ever-after. All of us dreamed of meeting our own "Ken" and driving off into the sunset in Ken's sportscar to our own Barbie Dreamhouse. Does anyone else remember the Barbie airplane (when Barbie was a flight attendant)? Barbie and Ken took off for exotic locales right from the airport on the floor of my childhood bedroom. My Barbie and Ken went on Love Boat cruises together, and long drives down the Pacific Coast Highway...and they kissed. All the time.

Well, 43 years after meeting, Ken was still reluctant to get married, and Barbie dumped him for Blaine, the australian boogie-boarder.

Now, Ken has seen the error of his ways, wants her back and is willing to do anything to do it. Isn't that they way it always goes? Barbie has moved on. After 43 years of waiting for Ken to "close the deal"--Barbie finally gave up. She met someone new and went on with her life. So of course, NOW is the time that Ken is going to make a play.

I hope she doesn't take him back. But I think she will. Barbie sales at Mattel are down by 33%. The pressure is on. Like Nick and Jessica (gawker.com), I think Barbie and Ken may play the happy couple for the sake of the commercial empire.